One Way to Read It

"One of the most important psychological prerequisites for war is that the enemy be made to seem less than human. One of the most important prerequisites for religious faith is that every single human being be seen as fully human—precious, sacred, a child of God. This makes war and faith incompatible at the most basic level, of course, but it makes an unnecessary war into a cardinal sin." — Robin Meyers I wrote about dehumanizing before. It reminds me of Hotel Rwanda, when the Hutu called the Tutsi "cockroaches."

I'm reading Robin Meyer's book . I recommend you read this entire speech. Read some of the bullets if you're in a hurry. There's a video below where he covers some of the same stuff. "As some of you know, I am minister of Mayflower Congregational Church in Oklahoma City, an Open and Affirming, Peace and Justice church in northwest Oklahoma City, and professor of Rhetoric at Oklahoma City University. But you would most likely have encountered me on the pages of the Oklahoma Gazette, where I have been a columnist for six years, and hold the record for the most number of angry letters to the editor. Tonight, I join ranks of those who are angry, because I have watched as the faith I love has been taken over by fundamentalists who claim to speak for Jesus, but whose actions are anything but Christian. We've heard a lot lately about so-called "moral values" as having ...

Our convenience kills and enslaves poor countries and poor people. Boycott Texaco The lady's singing at first sounds like a cartoon character, it then gets very depressing.

70% of us will die from diet related chronic diseases. Michael Pollan is author of In Defense of Food and The Omnivore's Dilemma. From TakePart. And we're spending less than ever on food. From Carpe Diem Another reason to eat more locally grown fruits and vegetables.

Don't buy your pork from Hormel. If you can, buy it from a local farmer who treats pigs like they're God's creation, and not like he's God.

Just when you thought the water was safe. The redneck sounding fisherman is actually an environmental hero.

"You're off the hook, Free Masons and Jews." The Colbert Report Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c Douglas Rushkoff www.colbertnation.com Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Jeff Goldblum Life Inc .

Liberian women end war with non-violent resistance The Colbert Report Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c Leymah Gbowee www.colbertnation.com Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Jeff Goldblum Liberia was founded by freed slaves from the U.S.

Israeli soldiers admitted abuses in the last Gaza conflict. "People were not instructed to shoot at everyone they see, but they were told that from a certain distance when they approach a house, no matter who it is - even an old woman - take them down." • Civilians were used as human shields, entering buildings ahead of soldiers • Soldiers fired at water tanks because they were bored, at a time of severe water shortages for Gazans Israeli troops and the people who justify their actions [the U.S] are "slid[ing] together down the moral slippery slope". Ghandi taught that nonviolent resistance should be used to oppose war. If we had taken his advice after 9/11, Bin Laden's influence would have been nullified, and our country would be in a lot better shape (and Dick Cheney would be a lot less rich). "A a SOFT b answer turneth away c wrath : but grievous words stir up anger. " —Proverbs

Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen tried to seduce Ron Paul in his new movie Bruno . Ron Paul pulled a Joseph and fled that den of sin. You hear that Southern Voting Bloc? Ron Paul is your example of a Biblical Saint. You too, Mormons. Paul said: "When this all gets out, I'm probably going to have to apologize to my supporters because I think most of them are going to figure out why in the world didn't I sock this guy in the nose?" and "the fact that he has raunchy material and people buy into it — it's sort of sad that that is a reflection of our culture."

Not to fatten animals “ The Food and Drug Administration believes antibiotics should be used on livestock only to cure or prevent disease and not to promote growth, a common use," said a high-ranking FDA official on Monday . Go to votetocracy.com , register, and vote yes on HR. 1549, and it will help you write an email to your representatives. Or google your representatives' contact info. Using antibiotics on animals that are not sick destroys their efficacy.

Check out Votetocracy.com . It makes it really easy to email your representatives and to keep up on bills that will affect you.

Would you guess one company is to blame for the housing bubble, the internet bubble, high gas prices last year? Matt Taibbi wrote that it all leads back to Goldman Sachs. His great article starts: "The first thing you need to know about Goldman Sachs is that it's everywhere. The world's most powerful investment bank is a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money." If you don't feel like reading the whole article , you can watch this 4 part interview that sums of some of its arguments: Click over to youtube to watch the 3 remaining parts. So why is the greatest investigative journalist a writer for a rock and roll magazine? I don't know, but that's pretty rock and roll. Other excellent excerpts from Taibbi's article: "organized greed always defeats disorganized democracy" "The formula is relatively simple: Goldman positions itself in the middle of ...

Somebody says "Please get away from the van" a lot. He's being harassed by people in masks because he's Mexican. "I say, give orders to shoot to kill, and kill any man, woman or child who comes across the border illegally. I'll bet you, you kill enough of them, right off the bat, people will stop coming over that way." From Crooks and Liars "No, we ought to be able to shoot the Mexicans on sight, and that would end the problem. After two or three Mexicans are shot, they'll stop crossing the border and they'll take their cows home, too."

I'm reading Open Veins of Latin America and just saw this post of 10 Cases of American Intervention in Latin America . Not recommended reading for those who like to close their eyes and pretend that the world is a happy place and that America is a benevolent empire.

But it's a Christ I've heard many people testify of, and fervently worship. A political group called "The Family" is "the oldest Christian conservative organization in Washington and it goes back seventy years. And the founder believed that god gave him a new revelation saying that Christianity had gotten it wrong for two thousand years and that what most people think of as Christianity, as being about, you know, helping the weak and the poor and the meek and the down and out, he believes god came to him one night in April in 1935 and said what Christianity should really be about is building more power for the already powerful. " -from Crooks and Liars Though this is an extreme, I seem to constantly battle this idea among Mormons that poor people are lazy and get what they deserve, and that we shouldn't help them, and that capitalism is equivalent to the gospel. These sound ideas of respected business and hard-work are nothing more than the resurrection ...

Dennis Kucinich ran for president, but most people thought it was a joke because he's short and has seen aliens . But maybe the aliens taught him something. He asks: "How many insured Americans go without needed care due to high cost of healthcare which is due to health insurance companies?" "It is 1 out of every 4."

Jason Chaffetz hates Mexican babies. Chaffetz is "tackling illegal immigration straight out of the womb," writes a chipper KSL columnist. He wants to withdraw citizenship rights from babies born in the U.S., unless one of the baby's parents is a citizen. Say you've lived in the U.S. your entire life? Maybe you don't even speak Spanish? Sorry spic-boy, over the fence with you. Up yours, Statue of Liberty . We don't need any more poor, dirty foreigners. And sorry, God, you're wrong . Children can be guilty for the sins of their parents.

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich thinks we should change the government of Iran . "The former speaker of the US House of Representatives has said that the US should "sabotage" Iran's oil and gas infrastructure as part of its efforts to bring down the government." This proves that Newt Gingrich does not understand that the current regime is in power because the U.S. interfered in 1953. The CIA overthrew Iran's democratically elected Prime Minister and had him killed. We then installed a shah, or king, who ruled in blood and terror for 26 years. In 1979 Iranians rose up and had him deposed. Ruhollah Khomeini hijacked the 1979 revolution and took the power of government unto himself. Now, imagine that the war of 1776 happened 30 years ago. How eager would you be to have England step in and rearrange our government for us? Newt's neocon warmongering shows he is w...

ABC released a "happy" news story that Obama passed new rules for eggs, poultry, beef, and vegetables. What the article briefly mentioned that the legislation was in response to industrialized agriculture and their concentration camp feed lots that bred all of these diseases, such as E. Coli O157:H7. It made no mention that it could potentially make it even harder for small farmers, who keep their animals in safe and healthy conditions, to continue to afford farming. Fortunately the limit is for "egg producers with 3,000 or more laying hens." So if small farmers stay under that number they can avoid the regulations. I was unable to find any more about the new guidelines on fruits and vegetables, which traditionally have had little regulation.

From Newsweek "[Coke] looked the other way as some bottlers in Colombia and elsewhere intimidated and attacked union organizers , who "walk with a gravestone" on their backs. Pressured to audit Colombian plants in 2005, Coke helpfully noted a substandard number of fire extinguishers at one, but didn't address the charges. Coke often doesn't make its own Coke. It relies on a vast web of subcontractors, bottlers and distributors. Most have loose or no ties to the company, and are in countries where workplace laws are underdeveloped at best . In India, Coke drained water from local villages but gave them fertilizer in return—which contained lead and toxins , according to a BBC investigation. A leading British poisons expert warned of "devastating consequences" for the local population, but Coke called the fertilizer "absolutely safe." The concentrate for 70 percent of Coca-Cola's 1.5 billion drinks served each day originates in the tax haven ...

the dart was “in her brain a little bit, but not much." From Crooks and Liars

And Florida voters

Thugs from a mining company threaten protesters, including a man and his child. (Warning: Bad Language) Mountain top removal bad Previous post

Monsanto wages war against farmers and patents life in this hour and a half documentary Interesting how "swords were beaten into plowshares" when nerve gas was turned into insecticide and bombs into fertilizer. It shows what great things we could accomplish if we didn't waste our resources on war. However, the concentration of so much money and power into the hands of so few, men who have no scruples against war profiteering, is dangerous. If they don't hesitate to profit from the death and violence of war, they will not hesitate to profit from destroying your health. Monsanto has instituted a new feudalism in America.

"There is no area in which Republicans have further strayed from our traditions than in foreign affairs," writes Paul. He dismisses neocon claims that "we have to either fight them over there or over here" as a "false choice. "America has no business policing the world. U.S. foreign policy is undermining national security, says Paul. From the Winnipeg Sun This in contrast to our current one-sided laissez faire policy of not interfering with wars that Israel starts in the Middle East , only those started by Iraq or Iran. If a Republican claims that he wants to cut your taxes, but wants to keep waging war as usual, then he means that he wants to tax you deceivingly through inflation, and tax your children through a larger national debt. Which makes this lady the ideal Republican voter, because she doesn't understand the connection between taxes and war. More Republicans should be stand up to our war policy

Vice President Biden said that Israel could bomb Iran, and that the U.S. wouldn't do anything about it, because Israel is a "sovereign nation." It's interesting that if Iran bombed Israel, we'd retaliate against that "sovereign nation." Entanglement in foreign alliances has muddled our judgment. Click over to see video From Al Jazeera and Crooks and Liars

If you were to stand up today and support the views of the Declaration of Independence you would be put on a subversive list.

Bottled water is making me gay. The Colbert Report Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c Nicholas Kristof www.colbertnation.com Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Jeff Goldblum The ease of flushable toilets, disposable plastics, and chemical runoff from industrial agriculture and industrial production has produced severe consequences.

I think most people didn't like him because he actually acted like a Christian in office, instead of a war-mongering, money-worshiping pseudo-Christian. The Colbert Report Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c Kevin Mattson www.colbertnation.com Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Jeff Goldblum Even my dad likes him, and my dad doesn't like many Christians.

The city of Montebello, California, decided to use the money it had allotted for fireworks, to instead feed 5,000 families for a year . From TakePart .

And why I want to be a farmer The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c Robert Kenner thedailyshow.com Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Jason Jones in Iran See Food Inc.

The final Jason Jones installment. The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c Jason Jones: Behind the Veil - The Kids Are Allah Right thedailyshow.com Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Jason Jones in Iran

U.S. troops began a massive withdrawal from Iraq. Iraqis celebrated. Happy Sovereignty Day. More pictures here

Crazy Republicans wanted the same thing during the election ( here , and here ). Some in the government want us to be scared. A frightened populace is willing to exchange liberty for security, by giving the government more power. The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c Osama bin Laden Needs to Attack America thedailyshow.com Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Jason Jones in Iran Watch the full video here . Crazy quote at 6.55. I just read Human Smoke about World War II. Same things were happening then. Roosevelt and Churchill wanted the Japanese to attack the U.S. so that Roosevelt would have an excuse to enter the war. They provoked them to attack with economic warfare (depriving the Japanese of oil and gasoline), by putting America's navy as close to Japan as possible, by training and arming Chinese pilots to bomb Japan, and by planning full-scale attacks on Japan.